Agriculture is vital for Africa. It provides food and means of living, to the 70% African population living in rural areas. It is also a source of foreign currency. But agriculture liberalization threatens all this. African markets are often flooded with European and USA subsidized agricultural products (meat and cereals) that make fall prizes, deteriorating the livelihood of farmers and menacing local food security. The best arable land is dedicated to “export crops” rather than meeting local needs.
African countries want to renegotiate the present Agreement of Agriculture of the WTO, because they see in it a thread to local economies. They ask for the recognition of food and water security (not to be considered as trade goods); protection against the dumping of subsidized agricultural products from the rich countries; total reduction of import tariffs, to be able to export “processed food”.
Free Trade has been made possible by the bringing down of all barriers so that goods and services can travel freely around the world setting up the global market. This move has reached Africa and is having direct consequences on its people and their living standards.
African countries are the “losers” of the globalization. The richness of the continent (raw materials, petrol, minerals, agriculture, wood, fishing…) are being exploited by multinationals and is taken out of the country with the minimum of benefits for the Africans. The opening of the markets to food imports is destroying local agriculture and jeopardizing food security. The few new factories offer very low standards of work conditions and destroy the environment. The industrialized countries want the free circulation of goods, companies and capitals throughout the world, but do not allow the free circulation of persons from the South towards the North (economic migration). The social standards have diminished (health, education, social commitments) and the conditions of workers have deteriorated.
Many changes have taken place in Africa these last years. Shops are full, products of all kinds are exhibited though only available to a few with money. Importers make great business. There is a new class of “rich people”,… But at the same time workers lose their job, cheap import products cause the ruin of small farmers, salaries lose buying power; governments have less possibilities of defending policies to protect their young industry; as well as social standards and the health of its citizens.